What to Know About XXXTentacion, the 20-Year-Old Rapper Shot Dead in Florida

The Broward County Sheriff's Office confirmed XXXTentacion, born Jahseh Onfroy, was pronounced dead at the hospital hours after he was shot

Rapper XXXTentacion was shot dead on Monday north of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as he was leaving a motorcycle dealership, PEOPLE confirms.

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office told PEOPLE authorities responded to a shooting in Deerfield Beach that was reported at 3:57 p.m.

An hour and a half later, the sheriff’s office confirmed the star, born Jahseh Onfroy, was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is urged to call detectives John Curcio or Walt Foster at 954-321-4210 or an anonymous tip line at 954-493-TIPS.

Here are things to know about 20-year-old XXXTentacion:

XXXtentacion at I Heart radio Station 103.5 The Beat, Fort Lauderdale, USA - 26 May 2017
Larry Marano/REX/Shutterstock

1. Spotify Stopped Promoting His Music — Briefly — Following an Assault Charge

On May 10, the streaming platform announced that it ceased to promote the rapper’s music following charges that he beat a pregnant woman.

While his music was removed from featured playlists, listeners were still able to find his music if they specifically searched for it. The move, which also impacted songs by R. Kelly due to his own alleged sexual misconduct, drew fire from artists like Kendrick Lamar, and even Spotify employees themselves. Within weeks Spotify reversed the decision on XXXTentacion following industry outcry.

2. Unlikely Duet

In September 2017, XXXTentacion surprised fans when he announced “Again,” his collaboration with Noah Cyrus, who received backlash for working with the embattled rapper after the controversy of his domestic violence charges.

At the time of the release, Cyrus did not promote or mention its release on social media.

3. Landing on the Billboard Hot 100 and XXL Freshman Class

The rapper’s most well-known song “Look at Me!” entered the Billboard Top 100 chart in February 2017 after it was released in December 2015, even reaching its peak at 34 in April.

SoundCloud has been the platform where XXXTentacion has found most of his successes, garnering over 76 million plays thus far. His first song released to SoundCloud was the track, “Vice City.”

In June 2017, he was named to XXL’s Freshman Class and featured on the magazine’s cover.

His first album, 17 — which Lamar publicly approved of — debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart in August 2017.

2017 Toronto International Film Festival - "The Carter Effect" Premiere
George Pimentel/WireImage

4. He Feuded with Drake

The Six God’s 2017 track “KMT” drew comparisons to XXXTentacion’s breakout song “Look at Me!” — and the young rapper was not pleased. XXXTentacion called Drake a “bitch” during an interview with WMIB that spring and posted photos of Drake’s mother on Twitter with disparaging captions. Drake, for his part, denied that he stole elements of the song (or “flow”) but XXXTentacion continued calling him out on social media, challenging him to “come to Florida” so that he could “out-rap” the “God’s Plan” star.

Migos rapper Offset also waded into the fray on Drake’s behalf, as did Chicago rapper 600Breezy, who warned XXXTentacion that he “got a couple n— that will knock you off in your own city.” Drake took a decidedly light tone by mocking the rapper after he was knocked unconscious during a concert in San Diego.

XXXTentacion fired back by posting photos that appeared to show Drake, most likely a lookalike, in a compromising position in February.

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Larry Marano/REX/Shutterstock

5. Recent Success

XXXtentacion released his second studio album, ?, in March and it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart.

“Sad,” his first of two single from ?, reached 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his first top 10 song on the charts.

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